UK pro-Israel lawyers probed for trying to 'suppress' Palestine supporters

A pro-Israel lawyers' group in the UK is being probed after a complaint that it threatened to take legal action against individuals for showing support for Palestine.

Complainants have accused UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) of sending eight letters to individuals and organisations between January 2022 and May 2025.

These letters "demonstrate a seeming pattern of vexatious and legally baseless correspondence aimed at silencing and intimidating Palestine solidarity efforts", according to the complainants, lodged with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) by the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and the European Legal Support Center.

They claim the UKLFI uses "strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapps), which are lawsuits intended to limit freedom of expression on matters of public interest".

The UKLFI was founded in 2011 to push back against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

One letter was sent by UKLFI director Caroline Turner to the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh that had announced plans to host a Palestinian film festival in May, an event that UKLFI requested to be cancelled.

UKLFI’s letter claimed the scheduled events were "inherently antisemitic and anti-Zionist in nature" and could lead to a referral to the Scottish charity regulator, according to the complaint.

Another letter was sent by Turner to the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust, which had organised a classical music concert called The World Stands With Palestine at a London college in November 2024.

That letter alleged that the concert was "siding with the viewpoint" of Hamas and so would likely to be in breach of the Terrorism Act 2000.

UKFI accused the concert of attempting to "stir up racial hatred against Jews and Israelis, and to sympathise with the aims of the Hamas terrorist organisation".

The concert was to feature music that talks about the struggles of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

Flyers advertising the concert included an image of a placard reading: "Stand with Palestine!! Stand with the Resistance!!"

The concert was eventually cancelled by the college.

SRA on its website describes slapps as a "type of abusive litigation" that can "undermine freedom of expression, the rule of law and amount to a misuse of the legal system."

Earlier this month, the UK Charity Commission confirmed that it was investigating UKLFI Charitable Trust’s relationship with UK Lawyers for Israel, its parent organisation.

The investigation against UKLFI for breaching charity laws follows a report and complaint published by CAGE International, accusing the pro-Israel organisation of "abusing regulatory authorities in Britain."

Pro-Palestinian advocacy in the UK has increasingly come under pressure lately.

Earlier this month, the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission raised concerns over the handling of pro-Palestine protests in Britain, following a crackdown on supporters of the now-proscribed group Palestine Action.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, London has witnessed huge pro-Palestine marches of hundreds of thousands.

More than 62,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry, with the true death toll believed to be much higher.

Several countries and leading rights groups have labelled Israel’s offensive as a genocide.